By Elisa Lipsky-Karasz | WWD.com

Liya Kebede at her desk in the LemLem studio. [Photo by Talaya Centeno]

Liya Kebede is almost annoyingly PERFECT. Pretty, classic looks? Check. Handsome hedge-fund-manager husband and two adorable children? Check. Still in demand to open fashion shows despite being 15 years older than most other models? Check. And she spends a significant portion of her time doing good works? Come on.

But it’s true. These days, the Ethiopian native acts as Goodwill Ambassador for the World Health Organization and heads an eponymous foundation to benefit her home country, all while tending to a nascent acting career and a fledgling children’s line, LemLem.

The collection, whose name means “flourish,” or “bloom,” in Amharic, is no vanity project. Kebede started the line in order to provide employment for traditional Ethiopian weavers. “They don’t have a market anymore. I wanted to give them a way to showcase their art and get money from it,” explains the 31-year-old, who decided to design for kids because she is an avid shopper for her own young son and daughter. The results — cotton bloomers, shirts, onesies and dresses — have proved irresistible to mums, so much so that shirts and scarves are now being made in adult sizes.

Though production is very small-scale (indeed, a cardboard box of clothes arrives direct from Addis Ababa to LemLem’s Chelsea studio as Kebede explains the line), six pieces are exclusive to J. Crew in a first-time collaboration, and others will be sold online and at retailers in Paris and London. The extra business gels with Kebede’s plan to encourage industry rather than simply dole out handouts.

“I thought this [collaboration] was the right fit because it brings the Western market to them,” she says.

Of course, the male weavers are not accustomed to working at the intense pace of the New York City fashion industry. “They think we are nutcases,” she laughs. “They don’t understand why we want [something] done two millimeters differently. We’re like, ‘No, trust us.'”

Liya is incredibly invested in having this project work and having it be viable,” says J. Crew’s creative director Jenna Lyons.

Kebede put an equal amount of diligence into her turn on the big screen in the upcoming “Desert Flower,” a biopic of Somalian model-turned-activist Waris Dirie — so much so that cast and crew took to calling her Waris during the shoot. Kebede, who made her film debut in 2005’s “Lord of War” and appeared in “The Good Shepherd,” won the role out of 500 hopefuls based on her audition tape. “Only afterwards did we learn that she is a top model,” says the movie’s German director, Peter Hermann. To test her mettle, he threw her in with professional actors from Munich’s Bavarian Staatstheater for a second audition. “We didn’t make it easy for her,” he says.

As for modeling, Kebede still enjoys it. “I take pleasure in the process,” she explains. But, she says, discrimination persists in the industry despite all the recent attention to race, including Italian Vogue’s famous “Black Issue,” in which she appeared. “I’ve had clients saying, ‘We can’t use her because she’s black,’ ” she says. “You say, ‘OK, fine,’ and you move on. I’ve been lucky about it, but even today it will happen and I won’t be shocked.”

“The fact that there has been all this talk about it has helped. And I really think that Michelle and Barack Obama have helped,” continues Kebede, who met the President at a campaign fund-raiser. “I’m a bit more optimistic this time around.” And should her daughter want to model, Kebede says she would be supportive. “I wouldn’t want her to start early. But if she is around 18 or 19, I wouldn’t mind. It’s a tough industry, but I’ve done it and it’s been quite OK with me.”

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The British Embassy in Addis Ababa announced that Ethiopian students looking to study in the UK will be able to apply for their visa through Tier 4 of the new streamlined Points Based System beginning today.

According to a press release issued by the embassy, Ethiopian students will need to prove that they have been accepted onto a course run by an education institution which is a UK Border Agency (UKBA) licensed Tier 4 sponsor, proves that they have the means to support themselves, and supply their biometric details at their local visa application center.

If granted a visa, the new Tier 4 regulations allow international students to undertake part-time work of up to 20 hours per week during term time, full time work during the holidays and undertake any course related work placements, the release said. “The UK has a lot to offer international students. Now they see whether they are eligible for a visa before they even apply- making the system much clearer and easier to understand,” Susannah Susannah Richmond, Entry Clearance Manager of the British Embassy commented:, Entry Clearance Manager of the British Embassy commented.

The aim is to make the application process more transparent and straightforward, Richmond said.

For the first time, all independent fee-paying schools, colleges and universities that want to accept international students to study with them now need to a license to do so, the release indicated.

This will help the UK government crack down on bogus colleges, something which will be welcome news to many Ethiopian students, who can now be sure that the language school, college or university they intend to study at is an approved educational institution, it said.

According to the release, over a thousand UK institutions have signed up to sponsor international students.

Further information on visa products are posted on http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/studyingintheuk/,the release says.

Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Dr. Mohamed Nasr Eddin, said on Monday, March 30, that a high level delegation will head for Ethiopia to probe means of boosting cooperation on technical studies needed to carry out some water projects there.

In statements, the Minister said he entrusted a team comprising experts of the Ministry along with university professors to do an assessment for Toshka and As-Salam waterway projects through making field visits in order to have a preconception of these projects.

Moreover, he added that the Ministry will study the possibility of restructuring the Ministry’s sectors and drawing up new legislations to eradicate centralism.

By Colum Lynch | Washington Post

UNITED NATIONS — The Obama administration decided Tuesday to seek a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, reversing a decision by the Bush administration to shun the United Nations’ premier rights body to protest the influence of repressive states.

“Human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement. “With others, we will engage in the work of improving the U.N. human rights system. . . . We believe every nation must live by and help shape global rules that ensure people enjoy the right to live freely and participate fully in their societies.”

The United States announced it would participate in elections in May for one of three seats on the 47-member council, joining a slate that includes Belgium and Norway.

New Zealand, which had also been on the ballot, supports the U.S. decision and withdrew its name to make room for the United States, Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced. “Frankly, by any objective measure, membership of the Council by the U.S. is more likely to create positive changes more quickly than we could have hoped to achieve them,” he said.

The decision was welcomed by U.N. officials and rights advocates, who had been briefed on the decision. Human rights activists have been advocating U.S. membership in the council since its creation in March 2006.

“This is a welcome step that gives the United States and other defenders of human rights a fighting chance to make the institution more effective,” said a human rights advocate familiar with the decision. “I think everybody is just desperate to have the United States and Barack Obama run for the human rights council, and countries are willing to bend over backward to make that happen.”

The Geneva-based Human Rights Council was established in March 2006 to replace the 60-year-old Human Rights Commission, which lost international credibility after countries with abysmal rights records, such as Sudan and Zimbabwe, were allowed to join and thwart criticism of their actions.

The Bush administration refused to join the new rights body, saying it was not convinced that it represented much of an improvement over its predecessor. John R. Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations when the council was created, said at the time that the United States would have more “leverage in terms of the performance of the new council” by not participating in it and thus signaling a rejection of “business as usual.”

Reached Tuesday, Bolton denounced the Obama administration’s decision. “This is like getting on board the Titanic after it’s hit the iceberg,” he said. “This is the theology of engagement at work. There is no concrete American interest served by this, and it legitimizes something that doesn’t deserve legitimacy.”

The Obama administration and rights advocates concede that the Human Rights Council has failed to emerge as a powerful champion of human rights, saying it has devoted excessive attention to alleged abuses by Israel and too little to abuses in places such as Darfur, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Last week, the rights council adopted a resolution sponsored by Pakistan and other Islamic states that condemns the “defamation of religion” as a violation of human rights, arguing that abuses against Muslims have mounted in the years following the 911 terror attacks. But European states criticized the Islamic resolution, saying it posed a threat to the right of free speech. However, the decision to seek a seat on the council is in keeping with what President Obama has called a “new era of engagement” with other nations to advance U.S. security interests and meet the global challenges of the 21st century.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said: “Those who suffer from abuse and oppression around the world, as well as those who dedicate their lives to advancing human rights, need the council to be balanced and credible.” She said the United States seeks election to the body “because we believe that working from within, we can make the council a more effective forum to promote and protect human rights.”

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the U.N. system made up of 47 elected members whose mission is to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights globally. The next round of elections to the council will be held May 15 in the U.N. General Assembly in New York, with members elected to three-year terms. The council is scheduled to undergo a formal review of its structure and procedures in 2011, offering an opportunity for reform.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Reuters) – Ethiopia has agreed to end a long-running row with world governing body FIFA over leadership of the country’s football federation, giving the national team the chance to play in international competitions again.

Ethiopia were thrown out of the World Cup qualifying competition last year after refusing to honor an agreement reached with FIFA over restoring the local federations officially recognized leaders.

The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) held an emergency meeting on Friday and decided to comply with FIFAs requirements, including holding a meeting to elect a new executive committee, state television and local media said.